


The Place Where We Belong

by Madcap_Miss



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 17:32:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12752937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madcap_Miss/pseuds/Madcap_Miss
Summary: The jounin of Konoha have been taking bets on who'll be assigned to teach this generation of Academy graduates ever since their parents enrolled them. With an entire class packed with clan heirs, not to mention the kyuubi jinchuriki, it's unclear being chosen would be more of an honor or a punishment.Personally, Genma has money riding on this being the year the Sandaime finally manages to saddle Kakashi with a team of his own.Then the assignments are posted in the jounin station, and no one is more surprised than Genma himself when the Hokage cheerfully dumps a tangle of overly-affectionate baby ninja in his lap.





	1. Resfeber

Genma rolled his senbon between his teeth, eyeing the Academy yard apprehensively. It was ridiculous really. He was a tokubetsu jounin of Konoha, a former ANBU operative, and he was too frightened to enter the kami-damned Academy.

A part of him felt more than justified in his hesitation though. New genin were still small, innocent, and relatively fragile. The idea of being responsible for three of them was enough to make Genma break out in a cold sweat.

Still, he was here; the paperwork was signed, and the test prepared. Pass or fail, the next bit was up to the genin themselves. Drawing a deep, slow breath Genma tucked his hands into his pockets, squared his shoulders and ambled onto the academy grounds looking the picture of relaxed ease.

The genin he’d been assigned weren’t a hard group to find; bright and exuberant even among the general ebullience of Academy graduates. It would be a mark against them with some of the other jounin, an exhibition of an appalling lack of the stealth and subtlety ninja were supposed to cultivate.

Genma, however, had been on the same team as Gai in his own genin days, and still considered the man his best friend. He knew better than anyone just how far a good dose of eccentricity could get you.

They also seemed to be getting along fairly well, which was a good sign. Tsume’s son was stretched out on the grass, head thrown back and fangs flashing in the sun as he laughed at something one of the others had said. The Aburame heir was leaning against the trunk of the tree Kiba was sprawled beneath, body angled to face his both his new teammates in an expression of polite – if mildly bewildered – interest.

The sight of Naruto was like a punch to the gut and a bear hug all at once. He was dangling upside down with his knees hooked over a low tree branch, gesturing animatedly as he chattered to the other two. Even as an infant he’d always had Minato’s colouring, and the resemblance was only getting stronger as he got older. But the fire dancing in those blue eyes was all Kushina, and it was her laugh that echoed over the Academy yard.

Shaking himself slightly, Genma dragged his mind forcibly out of the past. When he was sure that he was seeing three potential-genin instead of ghosts, he sauntered over to the little group. They looked up before his shadow even touched them and he clicked his senbon softly against his teeth, impressed. That showed pretty good situational awareness for fresh graduates.

“Hey. My name is Shiranui Genma. I’m your Jounin-sensei.”

Kiba wrinkled his nose at him doubtfully while Shino straightened, and Naruto flipped down from his own perch.

“Really? You don’t look like a jounin…”

Genma shrugged, aware that most people found him distinctly underwhelming. While it might be annoying among his peers, it was useful to have enemies underestimate him. Hell, it’d probably be useful to have his students underestimate him a bit too. He distinctly remembered spending his first month under Chouza-sensei so impressed by the man’s presence that he had been too intimidated to speak in front of him without prompting.

“You gonna lay down there all day?”

The tips of Kiba’s ears turned faintly red and he scrambled to his feet.

“Uh, right. Sorry.”

Genma had to resist the urge to ruffle the kid’s hair the way he sometimes did with Gai’s little monsters.

“Come on then, let’s get going.”

Naruto nearly bounced at his side, throwing out questions about everything from where they were going to what kind of training they would be doing. Kiba was nearly as excitable, though he tended to offer statements that were half conjecture and half suggestion rather than ask questions. The Aburame was unquestionably the quietest of the three, allowing his more outgoing teammates’ excitement to deflect most of the attention while occasionally offering soft, curious observations of his own.

Genma replied to all of them with the same vague half-answers that only his laid-back tone and half-smile kept from cryptic condescension. A bubble of quiet amusement grew in his chest as he watched them interact with him and each other; Kiba and Naruto bounding and tussling with each other like unfamiliar puppies, while Shino watched them with all the nervous reserve of a particularly dignified kitten.

They seemed like good kids, and cute as all hell. Brighter than he had expected, too. Even Gai’s team weren’t this tiny and bouncy when he first met them, though Genma suspected that once introduced Naruto and Lee would get along like high winds and forest fires.

Shaking off his absent speculations Genma turned up the stairs of one of the old watchtowers, with a firm mental reminder that there was no point making plans when they might yet fail their test.

Pushing open the half-door set in the low wall surrounding the watchtower platform, he let the three kids in and watched them settle with a profound sense of nostalgia. He could still remember the first time Chouza-sensei brought his team here, not to mention when Gai had brought his own brats last year. He and Ebisu had hidden on a nearby rooftop to watch Gai’s first interactions with his team, and Genma had no doubt that his old teammates were doing exactly that at this very moment. Idly he wondered what poor, undeserving D-rank Gai had sacrificed to keep his own students busy.

“What now, sensei?”

Genma blinked down into three sets of wide eager eyes, blue and black and glass-shielded brown, and felt something in his chest melt just a little. It really shouldn’t be legal to make baby ninja this cute.

“First, I think we ought to give each other a basic run-down of our skill sets, so we all know what we’ve got to work with.”

Shino’s brow wrinkled slightly over his sunglasses. “That should not be necessary, Sensei. The academy instructors have previously existing files for all graduating students.”

Genma nodded, clicking his senbon against his teeth and leaning casually back against one of the pillars supporting the watchtower roof.

“That’s true, but there’s always a chance that the Academy chunin missed something or that a student didn’t demonstrate all of their skills in the course of basic training. And even if that’s not the case, it’s just as important for the three of you to know each other’s abilities as it is for me.”

There was a slightly confused pause as Shino eyed him silently, and the other two exchanged a confused glance. Genma could almost see the wheels turning in their heads, stifling an amused snort, and shrugging slightly.  

“I’ll go first, then. Name’s Shiranui Genma, earth-natured combat specialist with a preference for ninjutsu and an appreciation for sharp objects.”

There was a brief silence after he spoke, the kids either hesitant to speak up or trying to figure out exactly what he meant by earth-natured, as the academy didn’t really cover elemental chakra. He could have left it out or dumbed it down, but he’d never liked being talked down to as a genin, even when he actually was ignorant.

“Why don’t you and Akamaru go first, Kiba?”

The Inuzuka hesitated for another instant, clearly not entirely sure where to begin, before Akamaru’s confident yip spurred him into speech.

“Well…I’m pretty good at Taijutsu. Sasuke was the only one in class who was better than me...”

He hesitated again, and Genma threw out a few patiently leading questions.

“What about clan techniques? You’re an Inuzuka, so I assume you and Akamaru have at least basic training in tracking and pursuit. Do you have any outstanding weaknesses or strengths that we might need to be aware of in the field?”

Kiba brightened slightly, gaining some confidence.

“Yeah, we’ve got the pursuit training. Mom- uh, I mean the clan head, says we’ve got real potential! And we’ve already learned the beast-transformation technique!”

Akamaru barked and Genma nodded encouragingly. A momentary grimace crossed the potential-genin’s face and he hunched his shoulders as if embarrassed.

“I’m not much good at ninjutsu though. Haven’t managed anything much beyond the academy basics and clan techniques.”

Well, that certainly could be a weakness but Lee was proof that it needn’t be a debilitating one.

“Good job, that wasn’t bad for your first report. Next time, try to make it a bit more concise though. Generally speaking most team leaders won’t want you to stand on formality, but they will want whatever information you have presented quickly, clearly, and as logically as possible.”

Kiba gaped at him, clearly caught off-guard. “That was a report?!” Genma chuckled slightly and waved a hand dismissively. “Not an official one, no. It was however your first field report.” Kiba looked stricken, and Genma had to bite back laughter.

“Hey now, don’t look like that. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good for a first try. You gave me the information I asked for, and even provided evidence and examples for conjectures you made where uncertain of hard facts. That’s a pretty solid instinct for relevant information.”

The boy relaxed slightly and offered a relieved, sheepish grin. “Thanks, sensei.”

Naruto’s hand shot in the air, waving excitedly back and forth. “Ooh, ooh, me next Sensei!”

Genma’s eyebrows lifted slightly and he tucked his senbon more securely into the corner of his mouth. Most academy graduates and green genin froze up at the thought of giving an actual report to a superior. They certainly didn’t eagerly volunteer. But then, Naruto was an Uzumaki after all, so perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised.

“Go ahead then.”

Naruto straightened, and his brows furrowed in the same way his mothers had when she was being ‘Serious-And-Professional’. “I’m best at ninjutsu. I came up with this one-“

Genma’s stomach flipped and he went completely still, hiding his shock behind customarily steady calm. “You created your own jutsu?” Naruto nodded, and Genma reminded himself to play it casual. “Can you show me?”

Naruto bounced cheerfully to his feet. “Sure sensei!”

Running through a series of hand-seals that looked vaguely like the sequence for a henge with a couple of odd ones thrown in, Naruto flexed his chakra. The familiar explosion of thick white smoke that always came with inexperienced or incautious chakra discharge cleared only slowly, and when it did Genma found himself staring at  a twelve-year-old version of Kotetsu, one of the tokubetsu-chuunin on gate duty for this month.

“A henge?”

Tiny-kotetsu shook his head. “Nah, it took me ages to figure henge out. It always came out wrong, you know? So I figured maybe it was cause I sucked at Genjutsu, and I tried just…changing instead of hiding?”

Genma leaned forward to tug curiously at a lock of dark hair. Rather than distorting or dispelling entirely, the not-Kotetsu winced and flinched away.

“Ow, sensei! Careful!” Side-eyeing him reproachfully, not-Kotetsu continued. “It’s not as good as an actual henge though. I can only do guys, and I always come out looking like the academy-version. So I ended up having to figure out Henge anyway.”

Genma made an understanding noise despite the fact that he was still reeling. Jutsu construction wasn’t something that most shinobi ever dabbled in, and those who did usually didn't do so until well into their chuunin careers.

Mini-Kotetsu vanished with another explosion of smoke and Naruto flopped back onto the bench beside Kiba.

“Um, where was I? Oh yeah, I’m decent with taijutsu, but I’m awful at genjutsu. Unless things get really bizarre, I don’t recognize ‘em when I get caught, and the only ones I’ve ever managed myself were henge and bunshin.”

A moment of embarrassed shame crossed his face but it lifted shortly. “Oh, and I can do some fuinjutsu.” Shino and Kiba looked confused, which Genma supposed was understandable given the dearth of fuinjutsu practitioners since the fall of Uzushio.

“Really now? Where’d you learn that?” Naruto grinned up at him, bright and mischievous. “Iruka-sensei gave me some scrolls to study when we learned about exploding tags in class!”

Normally he’d worry about someone trying to learn a skill as multi-faceted and potentially dangerous as fuinjutsu solely from scrolls, but while he hadn’t been more than peripherally aware of Umino Iruka since they’d graduated he did know that the man took his duties as a teacher very seriously, and had doubtless kept a very close eye on the boy. So rather than question the blond further, he just nodded.  

“Fuijinutsu is a rare and valuable skill set. I’m sure it will prove useful in the future.”

Naruto beamed and Genma returned it with a half-smile, before his eyes flicked to the last of his would-be students. “What about you, Shino? Any surprises up your sleeves?”

The boy held himself very still in the way that usually indicated discomfort or uncertainty in his clan. When he spoke his voice was carefully neutral, as if he were deliberately attempting to give the impression of nonchalance but just slightly too tense to achieve it.

 “I am reasonably skilled with genjutsu and ninjutsu, as well as proficient in the techniques of my clan. I also have some knowledge of poisons. However I find taijutsu to be somewhat…challenging.”

That lined up pretty well with what Genma had expected of him. He hadn’t worked with all that many Aburame, but he knew how they generally felt about the colonies they housed within their bodies, and it was only to be expected that young clan members would be shy about hand to hand combat when a spar had the potential to crush so many of their ‘small allies’.

Genma thanked for the thorough assessment without remarking on his taijutsu, noting absently that they’d been admirably upfront about their own weaknesses. Their lists weren’t comprehensive of course, but they did match what he’d observed of their practical skills and flaws over the past week.

Straightening from his slouch, Genma reached into the pouch at his waist and withdrew a slender scroll. He tossed it easily to Kiba who snatched it from the air, Naruto crowding eagerly up against his side to peer at the scroll as Kiba unrolled it, while Shino leaned gravely over his other shoulder.

“Alright then, kiddies, listen up ‘cause we’ve got a mission.” Kiba and Naruto cheered but Shino looked confused.  “So soon Sensei? I would not have thought new genin would be given a mission so quickly.”

The part of him that was already turning over training stratagems wanted to praise the boy for his instincts. He offered a lazy shrug instead as he dug his hands further into his pockets.

“Normally you would be right. However the Hokage believes that my particular skill set would be useful for this, and he has decided that the mission takes precedence over normal procedure.”

Three small faces turned up to him with varying mixtures of excitement and seriousness. Genma mentally reviewed the test he had prepared. The lie slipped from his lips like chilled silk, smooth and cool.

“I’ll be meeting with a contact from Kumo, whom we have reason to believe is in possession of information vital to the well-being of Konoha and her citizens. However, there is the possibility that our contact is under surveillance, so in order to divert suspicion the four of us will be masquerading as a routine border patrol.”

Calling up the grave tone of voice and sharply serious expression he had learned from Minato, he held their gaze and spoke as clearly and firmly as if their lives depended on his words.

“I don’t expect there to be any complications. However, if something should go wrong and Kumo breaks our cover, do NOT attempt to engage them. In that event we take what information we’ve got and run for Konoha.”

The kids eyes were wide and round, suddenly uncertain in the face of his stern warning. Even Shino had ducked his head slightly, a sure sign of nerves. “…is this information really that important, Sensei?”

Genma rolled his senbon idly between his teeth. “Enough to kill for, or so T&I believes. Up for it?” That put some of the fire back in their eyes, and Naruto sprang eagerly to his feet.

“Of course, sensei!”

The lanky jounin nodded gravely and took back the slender scroll, using a touch of raw fire-natured chakra to incinerate it in a burst of flames. It was pointlessly flashy, but the wide-eyed breathless awe it inspired in the suddenly Very-Serious genin hopefuls was both gratifying and amusing. The little ones were always so much fun to play with.

“The town where our contact is staying is a few days from here, and the sooner we can get there the better. Grab your gear and meet at the main gate in thirty minutes, and keep in mind that we’ll likely keep moving through the night. And bring something to cover your hitae-ate. This sort of information gathering has started wars in the past, so we don’t want anyone able to trace it back to the village.”

The kids all nodded, and bolted for the stairs, too wound up to remember to wait for a proper dismissal. Genma chuckled, and relaxed back against the post he’d been leaning against before.

The sound of light, scurrying footsteps had barely faded when Gai cannonballed in with a gleeful roar and Ebisu swung primly down from the edge of the roof. “Your students are most youthful, my friend!”

Ebisu harrumphed, expression severe as he pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. “Yes, yes I’m sure they’re very eager. They’re not very good at sorting true information from false, though.”

Genma rolled his eyes skyward. “They’re kids, Ebisu. If I couldn’t lie convincingly to kids I’d never have made chuunin, much less tokubetsu.” His darker teammate muttered under his breath, and Genma wisely elected not to intrude. Judging by the indignation in his tone it was his usual lecture on the importance of the shinobi precepts.

Gai still looked as delighted as ever, hopping up to perch on the half-wall beside Genma and eyeing him curiously.

“While I agree that your test is both impressive and youthful, Genma, does much of it not depend upon your students being unaware that there is one? What will you do if they meet other graduates?”

Genma offered a lazily confident smirk.

“Not really a problem. Naruto lives on the edge of the training grounds, so the only shinobi he’ll run into between here and there will be busy training. The only recent graduates who live between the Aburame compound and the gate are the Yamanaka and Haruno girls, both of whom are being put through their paces as we speak. And Kiba’s too excitable to bother stopping to talk to anyone after a briefing like that.”

Gai laughed and clapped him on the back so hard that it would have left bruises on anyone else. Genma, used to his teammates enthusiastic displays of both strength and affection, leaned with the blow and avoided nearly all of its force.

“Glad you approve. So what do you think? Can they make it?”He did his best to keep his voice absent-mindedly curious, sternly repeating to himself that he was not getting attached to the regrets until after their test.

Gai shot him a grin and an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “You have devised a wonderful test, and I am sure that your students will use it to prove themselves fine genin of Konoha!”

Ebisu snorted and readjusted his glasses. “Gai is right. Your test may be a little unorthodox, but if they do not pass it simply means they are not ready to be genin. In which case, a term of service in the reserve corps would do them good.”

Genma sighed and vaulted over the half-wall, gathering himself for a leap to the next rooftop.

“Yeah, I guess. See you in a few days then.”


	2. Jouska

Shino checked the position of the sun, and called back the kikaichu he’d set to watch the camp perimeter. Both his new teammates were asleep on the forest floor, and he had to swallow down the urge to join them. Three days of non-stop travelling had left him with a constant low-level exhaustion that only seemed to be worsened by whatever sleep he did manage to catch.

Doing his best to shake himself a bit more awake, he glanced between the other two boys. Both of them might be overly loud and wild, but in the mornings Naruto was infinitely easier to deal with than the Inuzuka.

Dropping to his knees beside the blond sprawled out on his back, he reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Naruto-kun.” The other boy flinched at the touch and sat up, scrubbing tiredly at his eyes. “…whazzit? S’mthin’ wrong?”

Shino shook his head, carefully to keep the weariness from his own voice. “All is well. It is time to break camp.” Naruto grimaced and rolled sleepily from his blankets. “’kay. ‘m up now.” Shino sat back on his heels, resisting the urge to yawn as he watched the other boy begin sluggishly folding up his bedroll, absently reflecting that this was the first time he’d ever seen the other boy ever get tired.

Once he was finished, Naruto frowned around the camp. “Where’s Sensei?” Shino stood and reluctantly turned to wake the wilder of his teammates.  “He believed it would be wiser if he were to meet the informant alone. He left orders that we should meet him at a rendezvous point on the far side of the village afterwards.”

Naruto dropped his pack beside Shino’s own and trailed after him, muttering indignantly as he did. “Could have at least waited for us to wake up, ‘ttebayo.” The two of them crouched beside the sleeping Inuzuka, and Shino reached out to shake him. “Kiba. Akamaru. It’s time to go.”

Kiba grunted and curled tighter around Akamaru. Shino set his jaw, and shook the other boy harder. “Kiba. We must break camp. Sensei will be expecting us to meet him soon.” Stubbornly refusing to wake, Kiba pressed his face further into the dirt with an indistinct grumbling protest.

Naruto leaned past him and poked Kiba hard in the cheek. Shino had just enough time to grab the back of his jacket and haul him away before a clawed hand slashed through the air where the blond's face had been. Naruto yelped indignantly at the half-asleep Inuzuka. “Hey, watch it!”

Kiba shoved himself up with a massive yawn, blinking blearily at the two of them. “Huh? Is it already morning?” Shino struggled to keep his expression even, wondering how his father had ever survived his own Inuzuka teammate.

Naruto was gaping wide-eyed at the barely-awake brunet. “…you almost took my nose off!” Kiba blinked, resettling a still mostly-asleep Akamaru in the cradle of his hood. “Oh. Sorry. ‘S just a reflex.” If anything Naruto looked even more riled. Shino sighed heavily and wondered what he had ever done in the Academy that his superiors should choose to subject him to this.

 

* * *

 

They’d been waiting at the rendezvous point for almost three hours when Genma-sensei came stumbling though the trees. The jagged edge of a broken blade protruded from the right side of his chest, a soaking darkness spreading across the dull green of his flak jacket, and thick runnels of blood coursing down his chin.

The man propped himself up against a nearby tree with a horribly wet, gurgling cough, and only then seemed to register the frozen genin. His eyes widened and he cursed.

“Run for the village. Now!”

He slid unsteadily down the trunk with another cough; a ragged tearing thing that looked even more painful than it sounded as the man’s chest heaved and struggled against the blood-bright edge of the blade impaling his lung. Shino felt his colony heave, shifting anxiously under his skin as his heart beat spiked. He vaguely registered Akamaru whimpering, and Naruto lunging forward to catch the man, struggling with the jounin’s greater weight.

Kiba looked up sharply, head cocked to scent the air as he barked at the rest of them. “T-three shinobi incoming!” Genma-sensei cursed weakly and fumbled at his weapons pouch, hastily shoving an unmarked scroll into Naruto's hands. His fingers left bloody smears across it’s otherwise innocuous surface as he fixed the three of them with an almost desperate glare.

“I’ve been made. Kumo must not catch a Konoha shinobi carrying this, do you understand? Take-” He was cut off by another wet cough, visibly weakening in front of them. Shino’s stomach rolled, head suddenly feeling far too light as he realized the jounin was dying in front of them. “Take the scroll, and run!”

Naruto was still trying to heave the man back to his feet, the front of his bright jumpsuit smeared with slick streaks of blood. “No way, sensei! Kiba! Kiba, help me with him!” Kiba jolted, taking a hesitant step forward. Shino just stared, feeling strangely divorced from his body.  

 As Kiba bent to join the blond, the dying man suddenly seized Naruto by the front of his jacket, fixing both boys with a feverishly bright stare.  

“Go. For Konoha.”

Just those last strained words and then the light was fading from a gaze still locked unwaveringly on the two genin. There was an agonized moment when no one moved. Then Kiba let out a ragged curse and hauled Naruto back by the collar of his jacket. “Naruto, he’s gone. We…we have to go!”

The blond stumbled back with the pull, bloody scroll clutched in one hand and wide blue eyes still locked with dulled brown. Akamaru barked furiously, and Kiba snapped around to glare at Shino. “Don’t just stand there, help me with him!”

Shino took a stiff, halting step towards the other boy. Kiba _snarled_ at him. “Get a move on, Aburame! I can’t carry you both out of here!” The words cut through his daze like a well-placed Kunai, and he jumped slightly. “I- yes. Yes.” Shaking himself, he moved to take Naruto’s other arm and helped Kiba drag the smaller boy deeper into the forest.

Still fighting with thoughts that felt slow and heavy as cold honey, Shino struggled to remember what they were supposed to do in case of pursuit by enemy shinobi. Kiba was trying to snap Naruto from his horrified silence, growling at the smaller boy as they hauled him through the trees.

“Come on, this is no time to freeze up! We’ve gotta get moving!” When Naruto spoke it was disconnected, hollow with something like shock. “Kiba…I couldn’t…he didn’t even smell right. Just…just blood and echoes and-” Akamaru barked and leaped down to sink small, sharp teeth into an orange-clad shoulder.

Naruto jolted, head snapping around to face the Inuzuka pair as Kiba all but shouted in his face. “Would you snap out of it?! We don’t have time for this!” Naruto drew in a shaky breath, and then nodded once. “Yeah…yeah, ok.”

As soon as he turned to run with them, Kiba turned his attention to Shino. “Have you got the perimeter?” Shino stared back at him, breath coming a touch too fast. “…yes.” It only took a moment to send a wave of his kikaichu into the surrounding forest.

Kiba nodded, eyes flickering a touch too quickly over the nearby tree branches as he searched for possible pursuit. “Alright. We can do this. Shino, how close are they?” Swallowing he reached for his dispersed insects, brushing gently against the hum of their awareness. “…my kikaichu have not encountered any enemy pursuit yet.” Kiba scowled, Akamaru growling uneasily atop his head. “That can’t be right. Maybe they’re covering their approach with a genjutsu?”

Shino scowled, irritation fuelled by exhaustion and emotional turmoil. “That is not possible. My insects would still be aware of the approach, because they would sense the chakra distortion of the illusion.”

Before Kiba could snap back at him, Naruto interrupted. “They’re probably searching Sensei for…” He glanced down at the bloody scroll still clutched in his hand. Shaking himself he shoved it deep into his weapons pouch. “They won’t come after us until they've searched the- Until they've searched Sensei, and the trees around him. That should buy us a little time.”

Shino shot the blond a startled look, and Kiba’s scowl lightened a touch. “You think?” Naruto hesitated under their attention, then nodded decisively. “Yeah. I mean when I pull a prank in the village, even jounin take a little time to check things over and make sure they don’t miss anything before they start chasing me.”

Kiba blew out a hard breath. “Okay then. We need to confuse our trail while we’ve got time. We should probably split up.” Shino blinked, a surge of relieved triumph nearly making him dizzy as he realized he had a solution for this. “That will not be necessary. I can use insect bunshin to lay false trails.”

Naruto brightened and began struggling out of his oversized jacket. “Really? That’s great!” Shino shot him a bewildered look. “What are you doing?” Kiba was doing the same thing though. “Confusing the scents, just in case.” Shino hesitated, then decided his insects would likely smell enough like him to suffice.

Quickly running through the necessary seals, he released a large cloud of kikaichu and carefully shaped them into acceptable copies of himself and his teammates. The other two tossed their jackets to their copies as the insect bunshin darted off in the direction of the nearest village. “They will only last for a mile or two at most before my kikaichu return.”

Kiba waved the warning off. “That’s fine. Let’s just put as much distance between them and us as we can.”

 

* * *

  

They ran through the night, pushing relentlessly through their exhaustion. It quickly became apparent that both Naruto and Kiba could see much better in the dark than Shino, but between the two of them they managed to keep him from tripping over any of the debris on the forest floor.

After a full day of pursuit and evasion, all three of them were starting to wear ragged around the edges. Even Naruto, who had the best stamina by far, was having trouble, though thank the sage his hands were still steady whenever they paused for him to set traps.

Shino never thought he’d be grateful for having the Academy’s number one prankster on his team, but the blond's penchant for tricks and long history of dodging higher rank shinobi were likely a good half the reason they’d managed to keep ahead of their hunters as long as they had.

They’d not only managed to stay ahead of their pursuers, they’d even thrown two of them off at some point among all the false trails, stream crossings, and repurposed prank-traps they’d scattered in their wake. His kikaichu only reported one shinobi pursuing them at the moment, which was still one too many but far better than a full team of experienced shinobi.  

Still, their luck was beginning to run out. Whoever was following them was gaining fast. It wouldn’t be long before he caught up with them. Shino was just wondering if it might be better for them to try and find a place to lay low for a while when Kiba called a halt. Surprised Shino skidded and stumbled as he struggled to halt his momentum. They’d slowed to a walk several times in order to rest, but this was the first time they’d completely stopped moving in over 24 hours, and his legs trembled with the accumulated strain.

Kiba grimly fished a soldier pill from his pouch and tossed it back. “Alright, we can’t outrun him. Time to try something different.” Shino drew a sharp breath, immediately protesting. “Kiba-kun, we’ve already discussed this. Our chances are-” Naruto shook his head and interrupted, expression tight and determined. “No he’s right, Bastard’ll catch up soon. I can smell him.”

A shiver of combined anticipation and nerves ran down Shino’s spine and he squared his shoulders. “Very well. An ambush would likely be our most effective plan of attack, because he is unlikely to expect us to turn on him before we have to.” Kiba crossed his arms. “Probably, but there’s still a chance we might not be able to take him. One of us should probably keep going with the scroll while the other two handle the ambush.”

Naruto’s eyes flicked towards him. “…I guess. If we’re doing that, then Shino should probably be the one to go.” Shino stiffened, immediately protesting. “No. If we’re going to send someone ahead, one of you would be a better choice. I do not have the stamina or training for this type of evasion, and as such likely have the lowest chance of successfully reaching Konoha. As such-”

Kiba cut him off and the young Aburame felt his hands curl into tight fists. “Look, Naruto has to be part of the ambush because he’s the least tired of all of us. Least likely to make a mistake. And I’m the best at taijutsu, so it makes sense for me to stay. Between the two of us we have a fair chance of taking this guy out.”

Shino scowled furiously, opening his mouth to argue further only to stop as Naruto dropped a hand on his shoulder and offered him a surprisingly bright grin. “You can take the next guy, we’ve got dibs on this one.”

Kiba glanced anxiously into the trees behind them. “Hurry it up, we don’t have time to argue about this!” Shino had the urge to snap at the Inuzuka, but he didn’t get the chance. Naruto pulled the blood smeared scroll from his weapons pouch and held it out almost carelessly. Shino took it wordlessly, a little surprised at how light it felt in his hand. It felt…disproportionate somehow.

Kiba was already circling the area, likely looking for the dips in the ground and low branches that Naruto seemed to favour for his simpler traps. The blond gave his shoulder a light push in the direction of Konoha. “Don’t worry, Shino. We’ll pound this guy and catch up to you before you know it, ‘ttebayo!”

Then the blond was trotting off towards the Inuzuka, and Shino was stumbling back into a run, shoving the scroll inside his coat as he went. His throat burned like he’d swallowed coals, the frustration so intense it drove him at a faster pace than he’d managed since yesterday morning. If he were better at taijutsu, or had more stamina, it would likely be him setting up the ambush with Naruto. Kiba and his evasion training should have been the clear choice for getting the scroll back to the village but…

With each step he was painfully aware of the growing distance between him and the other two genin. This was all such a disaster. He’d always known that missions sometimes went wrong, of course. He was a clan child, and more than that an heir. He’d watched multiple relatives come back from missions with scars, with nightmares, or even fail to come back entirely.

He had always known that the life of a shinobi was a dangerous one. But it had been a remote kind of knowing, an intellectual understanding rather than an immediate reality. For the first time, he found himself considering the concept that he might not make it back home. That it was increasingly likely that even if he did, he’d be doing so alone.

That somehow felt like the worst of it. He’d never much cared for either Kiba or Naruto in the Academy, uncomfortable around their troublemaking behaviour, but they were still his classmates. He didn’t want them to die.

A cold, helpless fury burned low in his gut as he forced himself to keep going in the direction of the village. _‘_ _Never again. If I make it out of this, I_ _’_ _ll become so strong that I won_ _’_ _t ever be the weak leak again. I don_ _’_ _t care how much sparring it takes._ _’_

* * *

   

It was a mere handful of hours later that the kumo-nin caught up with him. By that time Shino had had to recall his kikaichu in order to conserve as much stamina as possible. Without his allies watching the surrounding area he had no real warning. The forest was unnaturally still of course, but in his exhausted race for Konoha he'd long since lost the stealth needed to leave the forest undisturbed. He didn't realize their hunter had circled ahead of him until he broke the treeline. 

Shino all but skidded to a halt, staring in horror at the man leaning almost idly against a large rock outcropping. Tall, dark, and with more sheer bulging muscle than Shino had ever seen on a Konoha shinobi, he made for an intimidating figure. Kiba was lying bound at his feet, bloodied and silently snarling. 

Naruto and akamaru were nowhere in sight.

“Alright kiddo, I think that’s enough.”

Shino tensed, instinctively reaching for his colony. He didn't even have time to rally them for an attack before the kumo-nin dragged Kiba up against the rock, a kunai coming to rest delicately against the soft spot at the base of Kiba’s skull. There was a pregnant pause as the man allowed Shino to absorb the silent threat, the air so thick with tension that it made his skin crawl.

“I said enough.” The larger shinobi doesn’t so much as raise his voice, and Shino hated him for it. Pale eyes flicked over him and bulky shoulders dropped slightly as he hissed out a long sigh. When he finally spoke again, the tone of voice was almost coaxing. “Look, you're obviously out of your depth. Just give me what you stole, and the three of us can go our separate ways, no hard feelings.”  

Shino dropped his chin suspiciously, using the collar of his coat to cover as much of his expression as possible while he scrambled to find a way out of this situation. Knowing he had to give the man some kind of answer, he fell back on the cool distance of formality. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t find it likely that you're being truthful.” The kumo-nin shrugged one shoulder, neither his blade nor his grip on Kiba ever shifting.

“I don’t like killing kids. But-” Thick fingers tightened around Kiba's wrists, wrenching them higher up his back. Shino felt a rush of irrational pride when the Inuzuka only growled defiantly at the pain. “-I will if I have to.” He'd known this could happen of course, had technically faced it already when Naruto and Kiba had sent him ahead alone. Still, facing down the reality of it was sickening.

He stared silently at the kumo-nin, heart hammering painfully against his ribs. Even without their hitae-ate, he and Kiba were very clearly marked clan children. If this man found anything on them, Kumo would use it to declare war on Konoha. 

Shino's father didn't talk about the third great war. Most of the older shinobi were like that. That was generally a very bad sign. Shino had heard the older shinobi casually discuss everything from seduction to torture, and yet none of them ever openly mentioned the wars.

Shino didn't want to ever bring something like that down on his home. Not when his teacher had died for it. Naruto had probably died for it too if he wasn't here. Shino's brain seized on that thought, constructing a mental image of the bouncy prankster gone still and bloody, blue eyes staring as blankly as Genma-sensei's had. 

The bottom dropped out of his stomach, and his gaze slid over to meet Kiba’s side-eye. Kiba narrowed his eyes, his lip curling ever so subtly in a clear message. A terrible stillness settled over Shino’s mind, the nausea temporarily pushed aside as he realized he had already decided on a course of action. 

He held his teammates gaze as he reached into his pouch to pull out the scroll. _‘_ _I_ _’_ _m sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there when Naruto died. I'm sorry I didn't reach the village in the time you bought me. I'm sorry we won't make it home._ _’_

 

He drew out the scroll with shaking fingers, the outside already wrapped in his last exploding tag. Moving fast, he tossed it straight up and ignited the tag with a spark of chakra. The scroll went up in burst of roaring flame and smoke and sheer force, vanishing like a water droplet on an open flame.

 

 

For a heartbeat nothing happened.

 

Then a slow, soft grin spread across the kumo-nin’s face. “Very good.” Before Shino’s eyes, broad shoulders melted away to reveal a far smaller and more familiar figure. Shino’s legs buckled under him, and he stared as Tokubetsu Jounin Shiranui Genma sliced through the cords at Kiba's wrists.

The Inuzuka wrenched away from the rock, scrambling a step back as he stared wide-eyed at their supposedly-dead teacher. “Sensei?” The Konoha jounin ruffled the other boy's wild brown hair, and Shino attempted to dispel whatever genjutsu he had been caught in. “Kai!”

That drew the jounin’s attention back to him. “Relax, Shino. It’s not a genjutsu.” Shino stared disbelievingly up at the man, and Kiba’s voice climbed so high it nearly squeaked. “But- But we saw you DIE! And the Kumo team-!”

Genma-sensei chuckled, ushering the bewildered boy across the clearing towards Shino. “You’d be surprised what you can do with an earth clone and a subtle genjutsu.” Almost on cue, a clone dropped from the trees, an unconscious but clearly breathing Naruto slung limply across his back and a tired looking Akamaru tucked in the crook of his arm. 

Kiba lunged across the clearing, tearing the small dog from the clones arms and all but crushing him against his chest. Shino struggled to his feet, feeling dizzy and light-headed. "...he's alive?" A reassuring hand landed on his shoulder as the clone ambled over to join them. Kiba trailed after it, companion cradled close against his chest and shock clear on his face.

 “But that…Naruto was poisoned!” Genma-sensei’s smile took on a sly edge. “Not quite. He’s drugged, not poisoned. I wanted to see how you would handle the situation if you lost your backup.”

Kiba was apparently struck speechless, so it was Shino who asked the obvious question. “ _Why_ though?” Genma-sensei clicked his senbon against his teeth, apparently unruffled by their shock.

“Simply put, because our resources are limited. We can’t afford to tie up all our jounin training new genin, so we test the academy graduates. Every jounin has a different method. The teams who pass stay with their jounin-sensei, and are held to higher standards. Those who don’t either go to the reserve corps to train under experienced chunin, return to the academy for remedial work, or are dropped from the program entirely.”

He sounded almost proud as Kiba circled around him to join Shino. “Congratulations. Only about thirty percent of graduates actually pass a jounin’s test.” 

Shino still felt like this was all too good to be true. A fresh wave of dizziness struck him, and he staggered as his vision swam. Kiba yelped and lunged to keep him upright. “Hey, are you okay? Bug boy? What's wrong?!” Shino blinked desperately to clear his blurry eyes. "I'm fine." Kiba didn't seem particularly convinced, though Shino supposed that was fair given how heavily he was leaning on the other genin.

Large hands closed over his shoulders, tugging him against a warm solid side that didn't waver under his weight. A voice rumbled almost beneath his ear, reassuringly steady. “It's alright Kiba, he just has mild case of chakra exhaustion plus some physical exhaustion and probably an adrenaline crash."

Kiba sounded vaguely panicked, though Shino couldn't bring himself to pull far enough away from Genma-sensei to see the other genin. "Chakra exhaustion?! Shouldn't we take him to the hospital?!" Their voices were getting more distant, harder to pay attention to, and Shino struggled to focus on them. 

"No, it's not that bad. If we set camp and let the three of you rest, all of you should be right as rain by tomorrow.” The Inuzuka didn't sound particularly convinced. "Are you sure?"

Shino struggled to lift his head, squinting up at the brown and blue blur that he was fairly sure was the jounin. “And then we’ll go back to the village?” The answer was warm and reassuring.

“Yeah, kid. Then we’ll go back to the village.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in case anyone's curious! 
> 
> This test was meant to assess how the three of them would react in the field. It wasn't so much about wether or not they could complete the mission, it was about wether or not the could pull together as a team, while simultaneously acting in the best interests of the village. Which they did, yay! 
> 
> Also, Genma says that he knocked Naruto out basically to see if Kiba could handle it, if he'd cut and run, etc. In reality, that was a side-benefit. Mostly he was worried that if Naruto was pressed far enough he'd draw on the Kyuubi's power, so he decided it'd be better to knock him out before he started backing anybody into corners. 
> 
> Feel free to ask any questions you've got, and I'll answer them if I can! Thanks for the kudos and comments!


	3. smultroställe

Genma dropped onto one of the tall barstools surrounding their usual table with a grunt that was half satisfaction, half aching protest. Gai patted his head, making gravely sympathetic faces and encouraging comments as he sat beside him.

Izumi leapt onto the stool across the table from him with a chipper greeting, soft brown hair spilling loose over her mission gear the way it was only allowed to do once she was officially off-duty. “And how are we feeling?”

Genma offered the manic Uchiha a baleful stare as she snickered at him. “No need to be grouchy, Gen-kun. You were the one who insisted on the super-special, super-secret field test for your bratlings!”

Asuma and Kurenai dropped into the seats on either side of the tiny Uchiha, who was nearly dwarfed between the Sarutobi’s powerful frame and Kurenai’s regal height. Asuma chuckled lazily through the curling smoke of his cigarette.

“She’s not wrong, you know. The rest of us were finished with it in a day at most.” Kurenai nodded solemnly. “Yes, even I was done by sunset. Honestly, the results may not be perfect, but they do work. I don’t understand why you were so intent on a field test.”

Genma shrugged. “It’s more thorough, gives them realistic expectations, and if they pass they’ve got a solid bond in  place to build a team off of.”

Kakashi slipped onto the empty stool to his left, ignoring the appreciative glance Izumi sent his way. “So how’d it go, exactly?” Genma shrugged, tired and sore but proud.

“They did good. Worked well together, played to each other’s strengths, did what needed doing to complete their objective.” Given how emotionally taxing the test had been for them, he wasn’t particularly interested in providing exact details, but he knew what Kakashi was really after here behind his carefully indifferent nonchalance.

“Naruto’s definitely his mother’s son. Very traditional Uzumaki.”

Kakashi’s lone visible eye crinkled up in a wistful smile while a round of laughter circled the table, confusing Kurenai and Asuma, neither of whom had ever spent much time with Kushina or her kin before the massacre. He shot them a grin.

“The Uzumaki were never predictable, but they were consistent. Tricky bastards with ridiculous stamina, vicious tempers, and the firm belief that the most vital component of any problem's solution was either a punch in the face or a hug.” 

Izumi burst into wild laughter at Kurenai's wide-eyed consternation, an exuberant counterpoint to Asuma's subdued chuckle. The Sarutobi eyed Genma, dark eyes glittering with the same amusement that generally only appeared in his father when shinobi were called on to report particularly embarrassing mission mishaps. “You’ve got the Inuzuka kid too, right? So that’ll be two that jump in feet first.”

Genma slumped further onto the table, caught between rueful amusement and quiet panic. “Three.” Asuma blinked, and Kurenai gave him an odd look. “Isn’t your third the Aburame heir? I thought he was fairly quiet and reasonable.”

Genma dipped his head slightly. “Oh it seems that way at first. But once you get him out in the field Shino is _every bit_ as bad as the other two! They sent him ahead while they tried to slow me down at one point, and I’m pretty sure he’s still holding a grudge over not being included in the suicidal showdown part of that little plan!”

Gai burst into laughter, roaring his approval. “The youth of your students burns brightly indeed, my friend!” The other jounin rolled their eyes with varying levels of exasperation, but Genma offered his old teammate a smile that was equal parts chagrin and pride.

Izumi grimaced at him from across the table. “At least your bratlings are basically good kids. I know Sasuke’s family but I swear sometimes I just want to choke the little-!”

Eyebrows shot up around the table. Izumi was a cheerful woman, and usually even her anger had an edge of maniacal glee to it. The purely irate aggravation she was showcasing now was rare. Kurenai laid a supportive hand on the smaller woman’s shoulder. “Mikoto’s younger son? Wasn’t he rookie of the year?”

Izumi’s fingers dragged across the table-top like claws and she looked seconds from spitting. “Oh he’s got good skills for a genin alright. Potential too, maybe even enough to be Mikoto-sama’s equal someday. The problem is his sage-damned PERSONALITY!”

Genma felt his eyebrows drift up towards his hairline, and traded a glance with Gai. Izumi snorted. “Don’t look at me like that, you don’t have to live with him! This kid-!” She blew out a sharp breath.

“Look, don’t get me wrong. He’s family, and he’s my student. I’m not going to wash my hands of him or anything. But he’s also arrogant, and condescending, with far too inflated an opinion of himself! I swear, if his nose were any higher in the air he’d have to duck to get through doorways!”

Kurenai seemed to wilt a bit. “He’s that bad?” Izumi made an inarticulate noise of rage. “He refuses to acknowledge either of his teammates as even having the _capability_ to be his equals, he thinks D-ranks are beneath him, I’ve had to apologize for his behaviour twice already-!”

She cut herself off, lips compressed so tightly they were nearly white. The waitress brought their usual orders by, and they held their silence until she left. Izumi glared ferociously at the bloody-pink of her berry wine, and Genma half expected her to either knock it back in one go or pull out a shuriken to play with. They were probably lucky that Anko was out on a mission and not here to encourage any of the bad habits Izumi had picked up from her.

“I just don’t know what to do with him. It’s not even that he’s purposefully acting out, it’s his general attitude! And as if that weren’t bad enough, he’s a terrible influence on my girls! They spend a ridiculous amount of time competing over him. When he’s not around I can channel that drive into their training, but if he’s anywhere in sight their teamwork is almost non-existent! I still can’t believe they managed to pull together long enough to pass the test.”

Asuma stubbed out his cigarette  in the ashtray and took a long draught of the odd, black beer he’d favoured since his stay in the Daimyo’s capital.

“They’re still kids. Give it some time and we’ll manage to knock the rough edges off.” Kurenai nodded and offered an encouraging smile. “Yes, Asuma’s right. You’re an excellent jounin, I’m sure you’ll be able to manage the boy.”

Izumi snorted and toying intently with the stem of her wine glass. Genma half-expected her to crack it between her fingers, like a wolf trying to get the marrow from a bone. “Easy for you to say. You already passed yours off to the reserve corps.” Finally lifting her glass to her lips, the Uchiha heaved a sharp sigh.

“All I have to say is that I expect the Yamanaka to sort me out free of charge if their heir helps drive me insane.”

Genma felt a flash of relief that his own genin were reasonably easy to work with. Inter-squad stress was nothing to sneeze at, especially with genin who were half out of their minds with hormones.

Kakashi’s lone visible eye curved as he offered them all his most obnoxiously unhelpful smile and volunteered a single cheerful comment. “It’s times like this that I remember why I fail every team the Hokage throws at me.”

Gai sprang to his feet in delighted challenge, Asuma burst into good-natured laughter, and Izumi lunged over the table towards the silver haired jounin with a snarl. Kurenai scrambled to catch the smaller kunoichi with a yelp. “Izumi-san, no!” The Uchiha eeled around the genjutsu mistress’ reaching hands, yanking out a handful of shuriken as Kakashi slipped backwards off his stool and skipped out of arms range. “Izumi, YES!”  

 Genma dropped his face into his arms and ignored them all.

 

* * *

 

Naruto struggled to swallow his nervousness as he and Shino followed Kiba into the shadowy interior of the yakiniku restaurant. He’d never been exactly welcome in restaurants other than Ichiraku, and this was just the sort of place he’d learned to avoid.

The waitress turned to them with a bright smile, her eyes flickering over Akamaru without comment. Everyone in Konoha knew better than to suggest an Inuzuka’s partner be left outdoors while they ate. Her expression didn’t dim until she spotted Naruto.

“Welcome to Yakido. Party of…three?”

Kiba shrugged a shoulder, still on edge after their last few days. “Yeah. We'll sit anywhere.”

Naruto watched apprehensively as she hummed, making a show of consulting the notebook tucked in her sleeve. Most civilians were still at work at this time of day, and Shinobi generally requested tables near the walls so the lack of a specific table request should get them seated quickly but…

“I’m sorry sir, I’m afraid we don’t have any larger tables available at the moment. I can’t seat any parties larger than two.”

Naruto felt his cheeks flush, and locked his jaw. He should have argued harder for Ichiraku’s. Kiba looked taken aback and more than a little disappointed. “What, really?!” Even Shino sounded a little confused, and Naruto felt his gut curdle with resentful embarrassment. “I had not realized that this was such a busy time of day.”

Naruto mustered up his most cheerfully clueless smile and opened his mouth to suggest the other two get a table while he went for ramen, but before he could he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Kiba? Naruto! What are you three doing here?” All three members of team five jerked around just as Chouji slid the door closed behind him, quiet black eyes reflecting back mild surprise and honest pleasure.

Kiba shifted grumpily, stomach rumbling loudly at the delicious scents drifting through air. “Trying to get something to eat, what else?” The Akimichi smiled sheepishly as he joined them. “I mean yeah. It’s just that I was looking for you guys a couple days ago, and your sister said you were out of the village.”

Naruto traded a glance with his teammates, a slight hesitation passing between them before he offered an answer. “Yeah. We came back.” Kiba looked a little conflicted and Shino ducked further into his collar, but Chouji either didn’t notice or chose not to comment on it. “Well you’ve got great timing; a bunch of us decided to get together for a meal after training today. That’s why I was looking for you. And here you are!”

Kiba lit up and Naruto beamed at his friend, the sting of the waitresses quiet obstruction eased by Chouji unthinking inclusion of him. Shino stepped in doubtfully before either of them could actually accept the invitation though. “Are you sure our joining you would not be an inconvenience?”

Chouji easily waved off the Aburame’s formality. “It’s no problem. We’ve got one of the big tables,  so we can just pull up a couple extra chairs.” Turning to the hovering waitress he smiled hopefully. “If it’s ok with you I mean.”

She hesitated, clearly reluctant. “Oh, I don’t…” For a moment she struggled silently, then deflated as she failed to think of a way to politely refuse the request. “That should be no trouble. Party name?” Chouji looked slightly confused at her hesitance, and pointed helpfully to the clan crest embroidered on his shirt. “Akimichi!”

She recovered fairly quickly, pasting on a polite smile as she turned to lead them deeper into the restaurant. Naruto felt a rush of relief as the four of them followed her further in. It would have been pretty embarrassing to have to leave in front of his team.

Turning past the last of the sizzling grills, he spotted a group of his classmates crowded close around a large party table, the rotating platter in the middle laden with platters, bowls, and shared dishes. Chouji trotted ahead, calling out cheerfully.

“Sorry I’m late. But I found Kiba and Naruto and Shino on the way!” Everyone at the table looked up, shifting away from the near side of the table to make room as the waitress quietly set out three more plates and team five stole extra chairs from an empty four-seater nearby.  

Naruto carefully ignored the way Shino cocked his head at the empty tables around them, settling beside Chouji to a chorus of greetings from everyone. When they were all seated, with Kiba cheerfully settling alongside Hinata and Shino firmly ensconced between him and Naruto, Ino leaned eagerly forward. “So where have you three jokers been? Chouji said you were out of the village on a mission!”

Kiba was already busy helping himself to a platter of yakitori and karage, but he paused to answer her. “Oh, that was for our test. We just got back.” Ino furrowed her brow and Sakura leaned forward beside her, their body language mirroring each other as they frowned at the three boys. “What do you mean?”

Kiba looked surprised, and Naruto eagerly took up the explanation, a little giddy at how closely those pretty green eyes were focused on him. Well. On his team, but still!

“Our Genin test from Genma-sensei.” Sakura’s brows arched and Ino looked distinctly sceptical. “You left the village for that? We just had to get Izumi-sensei to hold still for thirty seconds. I mean it took us _forever_ , but we never even had to leave the training grounds.”

Chouji hurriedly swallowed his gyoza to chime in. “We didn’t leave the village, but we did end up running all over the village. Asuma-sensei had a bunch of clones hiding around Konoha, and we had to catch every one of them.”

Shikamaru slumped back in his chair with a heavy sigh, eyes sliding closed and Naruto didn’t have as good a nose as Kiba but he was pretty sure the faintly sharp, peppery scent tinting the Nara’s usual blend of fresh grass and sweet red bean paste was something like annoyance. “Troublesome.”

Shino stoically focused on filling his plate, but Kiba was staring at the others. “…really?” Naruto broke in before anyone could ask them about their own test, throwing his arms out expansively and making his voice as distractingly excited as he could without overplaying it.

“Man, ours was _way_ more exciting than that! We had to get this super-secret information all the way from the border to the village!! Kiba and I even got to ambush Genma-sensei! It was awesome!”

The others were firmly focused on him now, rolling their eyes with familiar exasperation. Ino and Sakura sat back with twin huffs, while Hinata spoke up in her usual painfully soft timbre. “T-that sounds very exciting, N-Naruto-kun…”

He beamed at her, a little confused when she instantly turned a painful shade of red. Was he making a weird face? Had he embarrassed her? Maybe she had been eating spicy kimchi? “Yeah it was!” He could see Shino watching him from the corner of his eye, but he turned his attention back to serving himself as Chouji took over the conversation.

“Well I'm glad that you guys passed.” Turning cheerfully to the two bright-haired girls across the tables, he grinned. “I’m pretty glad I’m not the last one here too. Any idea why Sasuke’s running late?”

Ino sighed dramatically. “Sasuke couldn’t come. I told him I’d save him a seat next to me and everything, but I suppose he’s busy with his clan.” Sakura lifted her teacup primly to her lips, speaking in that deliberately competitive taunt that she only ever seemed to turn on Ino. “Of course. Sasuke-kun would hardly waste time on something as frivolous as eating out with someone as aggressively boorish as you, Ino-pig.”

Ino snapped around, shoulders tense and voice dropping an octave as she scowled furiously at her teammate. “What was that, Billboard Brow?!” Sakura slammed her teacup back to the table and whirled furiously, but before she could return the insult Hinata jumped in. “Sakura-chan! Ino-chan! Y-you shouldn’t fight like this. We’re all celebrating t-together, aren’t we?”

Shino dipped his head, adding grave logic to the timid Hyuuga’s pleas. “Indeed. It is unlikely that Sasuke-san is avoiding any specific person. Given previous observation in the Academy, I find it far more likely that he avoids everyone. Consider that he has never attended any Academy event that was not mandatory, that he repeatedly refused offers to eat lunch with various members of the class, and further that-”

Kiba elbowed the Aburame’s arm and startled the poor guy so badly that he jerked right into Naruto, who was in the process of stretching for the plate of inarizushi sitting just out of reach. Naruto yelped, wobbling dangerously, and only Chouji’s hurried bracing of his other side stopped him from toppling into the Akimichi’s food.

“Yeah man, we all know Sasuke’s kind of a jerk.”

Instantly both bright-haired kunoichi were on their feet, yelling indignantly across the table at the Inuzuka. “Sasuke-kun is not a jerk! His serious personality is what makes him so cool!” “Yeah, a rough dog-boy like you could never understand Sasuke-kun’s charm!”

Kiba bristled, Akamaru yapping indignantly from his hood. “What charm?! The guy’s so wrapped up in himself he wouldn’t know blood from bitterroot if you rubbed his nose in them!”

Both girls jerked forward so suddenly that Naruto was a little afraid they’d climb right over the table, both of them forgetting their rivalry as they argued with the Inuzuka. Poor Hinata was desperately trying to calm the three of them down, but was going mostly unnoticed in the commotion.

Shino irritably dragged his chair closer to Naruto, so the blond obligingly made room. Sakura-chan was pretty, but she was also scary when she was angry. Further down the table Shikamaru helped himself to some more of the fried burdock, grumbling under his breath. “We’re here to eat, you morons. Honestly, so troublesome!”

Chouji offered Naruto a smile as he absently offered him a plate of shishito skewers. “It’s nice that everyone’s so lively, don’t you think?”

Naruto looked between the larger boys amused smile and the skewers. He still felt grimy and tired from their test, he was still frustrated that he was taken out so easily by Genma-sensei’s clone, and he could feel the irritated eyes of the waitress before boring into his back every time she passed.

But despite his irritation and the way he was pointedly ignoring the rest of the table, Shino was a warm weight against his shoulder. Chouji had been as happy to see him as Kiba. No one had been surprised that he passed his genin test, and not one of them had called him dead-last since he got here.

Something shy and warm spread slowly through his veins. A small, helpless smile made it’s across his face as he shoved a skewer into his mouth.

“...I hate peppers.”

Chouji looked confused, but Shino huffed and reached over him to snag a skewer of his own, taking a pointed bite as he stared determinedly across the table at the continuing spectacle the three arguing genin were making of themselves. “I also find them to be distasteful.” Naruto couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

Chouji shook his head bemusedly as he passed the platter to Shikamaru. “You two are so weird.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so about the Uchiha massacre? I've got issues.  
> We see the Uchiha compound, and it seemed to me to be...pretty big? And you want me to believe that was full of elite shinobi all killed by TWO people, however skilled, AND that nobody else in the village noticed until one academy student was allowed to run screaming??? I call foul sir.  
> So at least in this fic, a fair amount of the Uchiha managed to survive that particular tragedy. Not Fugaku, Mikoto, or the elders, but around half the clan is still alive. Poor Sasuke is still pretty traumatized, and was removed from the line of succession on account of mental trauma and suspicion of genetic instability. 
> 
> Also, just to clarify, this chapter isn't meant to be Sasuke bashing. I'll admit, I really don't care for the effect he has on most of the other characters in canon, but I am trying to be fair to him. I just also feel like he's such a little edgelord that he would be incredibly Difficult™ to deal with as any kind of authority figure. And as far as my heacanon goes...post-massacre Izumi is best friends with Anko for a reason.


	4. adronitis

Genma watched with a fond half-smile as Shino herded a yawning Naruto through the trees towards the rest of the team. Kiba immediately dropped the stick he and Akamaru had been wrestling over, bouncing up with an impatient shout. “Naruto! Shino! Geez, where’ve you guys been?!”

Shino favoured the Inuzuka with such a pointed stare that Genma had to swallow back laughter. “…Good morning, Sensei. Kiba-kun.” Naruto waved blearily at the impatient brunet, obviously trying to shake off his drowsiness as he blinked slowly up at Genma. “…are we late?”

Genma ruffled already wild hair. “Not quite, Naruto.” Looking up to the far more awake Aburame, he offered a small smile. “Morning, Shino. Ready for training?” Though Shino’s nod was as solemn as ever, there was something distinctly reluctant about the set of his shoulders and Kiba outright groaned, casting a resentful glance at the lazy stretch of the Naka wandering past them. “We’re not still doing water walking, are we?”

Genma hummed and made a show of seriously considering the question, tucking his hands into his pockets and tipping his head back to stare thoughtfully up at the gently rustling forest canopy. “Well, it’s important that you be comfortable with the skill. I had planned to have you spar with each other on the river to help with that...”

He’d half expected an explosive protest, and when it didn’t come he cast a subtle side glance at the genin. Between Kiba’s appalled gaping and Naruto’s gloomy glaring at the river he’d spent most of the last few days falling into, their expressions were nearly enough to tip him over into outright laughter.

A polite flare of chakra nearby warned him that he’d best get a move on, so he cleared his throat to recapture the attention of his dismayed students. “…however, there’s been a slight change of plans.” All three boys visibly brightened up, though after two straight weeks of basic training and D-ranks they seemed a touch suspicious of their apparent good luck.

“The mission we’ll be running today will take some time, so we’ll be skipping morning training. For the sake of efficiency the Hokage has partnered us up with another team for this assignment. They’ll be joining us shortly for a briefing.”  

The boys exchanged a glance before turning extremely suspicious eyes on Genma. “What kind of mission is it?” Offering them his very best imitation of Kakashi’s signature smile, he shrugged one shoulder. “That’s a surprise. Look forward to it, ok?” Kiba didn’t look particularly impressed by that but he didn’t have time to argue before a solid weight cannoned into Genma’s back in a familiar display of aggressive affection.

“Gen-kun!” Obligingly shifting his stance to better support Izumi’s weight, the quieter jounin glanced over to see her aiming an almost frenzied grin at his stunned students. “Oooo, more minions!” Genma pulled the senbon from between his teeth, idly using it to gesture to the kunoichi hanging over his shoulder. “This is Izumi Uchiha; Team seven’s sensei.”

Izumi shoved off from him with an exaggerated groan. “Oh come on Gen-kun, you can do better than that!” Bursting into motion she darted forward to peer at Naruto at such high speed that Kiba yelped, and Shino instinctively jerked the blond away by the back of his jacket. “You’re the little Uzumaki, aren’t you?”

The three boys looked more than a bit overwhelmed, not an unusual reaction to first meeting the Uchiha’s taijutsu mistress. Naruto’s mouth worked soundlessly for several moments, face twisted up in such honest bewilderment that Genma found himself wishing for a camera. It was like watching a puppy confronted with its first set of stairs.

“…uh..I m-mean…yeeees?” The confused genin dragged the last word out tentatively, clearly unsure where this was going. Genma almost had to turn his face away when Shino very deliberately kicked Kiba in the ankle. The Inuzuka yelped, head whipping around to pin the taller boy with an indignant stare.

Shino fixed him with an instants deliberate stare, head tipping towards Izumi in a motion that was as pointed as he could make it without being obvious. Kiba stared blankly for a minute before his brow cleared in understanding. A heavy scowl bloomed over his face and he shouldered roughly to the front of the little group. “Did ya need something, Lady?”

Genma might be willing to spare his students dignity, but Izumi had no such compunctions. Her eyes lit up and she practically crooned at the three of them. “Aw, aren’t you three cute? I bet you work together seriously and everything!” Indignation flared across three small faces even as the kunoichi whirled to face Genma, hands braced on her hips.

“It’s not fair! You always have all the luck, Gen-kun!” He offered her a slow blink, a mildly amused smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “That’s not what you said when _we_ were genin.” The Uchiha tossed her head dismissively, the effect somewhat lost with the length of her hair braided into the heavy coil she preferred for on-duty hours. “Details.”

All three of his genin stared at him from behind the slight woman, expressions ranging from confusion to accusation. He offered them a cheerful smile and a shrug. They were going to have to get used to eccentric personalities quickly, or they’d never survive meeting Gai and Lee.

Fortunately for his students, they were saved from the enthusiastic Uchiha by the arrival of the rest of team seven. The new arrivals struggled for breath as they loped out of the treeline, and the pink-haired kunoichi slowed to a trot, calling out breathlessly. “Izumi-sensei, do we really have to run _everywhere?_ _”_

Pivoting to face her own students, the Uchiha beamed beatifically. “We really do! Stamina is Very Important for shinobi, Sakura-kun!” The other girl groaned exaggeratedly, and there was a glint of something rebellious in the firsts eyes, but she kept her response to a respectful nod.

The mini-Uchiha ignored the exchange, making a beeline for the other three boys. “Uzumaki. Aburame. Inuzuka.” The tone and expression were oddly stiff, but the boy seemed happy enough to see his old classmates. Interestingly, that seemed to confuse them almost as badly as Izumi had. Enough that Kiba was eyeing him with open suspicion.

Shino and Naruto returned the greeting while Kiba bristled and postured like he thought the Uchiha might somehow threaten his little pack. Genma didn’t have much chance to observe them though before the Izumi’s baby kunoichi approached him. Both girls bowed politely, their greetings building off each other in some strange combination of familiar partnership and passive-aggressive competition.

“I’m looking forward to today, Shiranui-sensei.”

“Yes, Izumi-sensei says you’re very skilled. We’re _both_ very excited to learn from you.”

“Very excited. Please let us know if there’s _any_ way we can improve.”

“Any way at all!”

Genma tucked his senbon back between his teeth, blinking down at the pair of them in mild surprise. “Of course. I’m not quite as exciting to learn from as Izumi is, but I’m happy to help.” As if summoned by the mention of her name, Izumi clapped loudly enough that all six genin jumped. “Alright, minions! Time to get to work!”

Genma eyed the carefully calm neutrality that washed over both girls expressions with surprised nostalgia. Tenten used to get that look around Gai and Lee when team nine was still newly formed.

Genma cleared his throat and cocked his head inquiringly at his fellow jounin, as if they hadn’t already discussed all this in detail beforehand. “Why don’t you go ahead and take lead on the briefing then?” Izumi’s grin took on a wicked edge. “Oooo, my pleasure!”

Propping a hand on her hip, she turned that terrifying grin on the uneasy genin. “Listen up, kiddies! Today, you’ll be harvesting Wind Lilies for the iryo-nin! That means you’ll be going on a lovely flower-picking trip through the upper canopy. Doesn’t that sound nice?” Genma chipped in with a bland smile. “That’s right. We’ll be pairing you up and sending you out to collect root cuttings and leaves from as many lilies as you can find.”

The Yamanaka kunoichi’s frowned, cutting her eyes uneasily towards Izumi’s young clansman. “But Sensei Wind Lilies are really difficult to find. And they’re hard to get to, even for shinobi who are used to tree walking. How are we supposed to reach them safely?”

Izumi bounced slightly on her toes. “An excellent point, Ino-kun! That’s why we’ll be splitting the six of you into pairs!” Genma stepped smoothly back in, already well-accustomed to the role of designated planner and communicator. “Each pair will have a different task. The first will be responsible for actually finding the Lilies. The second pair will properly harvest and store the required materials. Finally, the third pair will be in charge of overall team safety. Any questions?”

Kiba raised a hand, expression reluctant. “Why do we have a pair in charge of safety. Isn’t that a waste with you and Izumi-sensei around?” Genma nodded approvingly at the young Inuzuka. It was a good question, and more importantly it showed that the boy was responsible enough to put mission efficiency ahead of his own desire for more exciting work. Maybe he should look into taking them out for a C-rank.

“Of course Izumi and I will be around if you need us, but the six of you are responsible for completing the mission on your own. We won’t step in unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

The pink-haired kunoichi – Sakura – looked nervous at that, shifting ever so slightly closer to her teammates. “So…we’ll be going outside the walls by ourselves?” Izumi clapped a hand on the girl’s shoulder eagerly, eyes glittering with sharp-edged amusement. “Of course, Sakura-kun! You’re genin now, after all.” Sakura didn’t look particularly convinced, shifting uneasily at the prospect of an unescorted trip beyond the walls. Understandable he supposed. Underage children did not leave the village without an adult, especially not if they were of a shinobi line.

He was just opening his mouth to reassure the girl when the Yamanaka tossed her head, long ponytail snapping dramatically behind her. “I’m not afraid. We all completed our survival training, and it’s not like we’re going very far.” Sakura’s jaw tightened furiously as her gaze snapped to her teammate. “I never said I was afraid!”

Ino crossed her arms as the two locked gazes. “That’s good, isn’t it? After all, no real kunoichi would be afraid of spending the day in the woods.” Sakura flushed irately, hands balling into tight fists as her shoulders drew tight around her ears. “I’m just as much a kunoichi as you are, Ino!” His own three students were doing their very best to meld into the riverbank at this point, apparently used to contests of wills between their old classmates.

Genma glanced expectantly at Izumi, but she only offered him a silent shrug. He stared at her for an instant, then released a heavy sigh that was equal parts aggravation and resignation. Accepting that he’d have to deal with this one himself, he forcibly broke the two apart by the simple expedient of stepping between them. “Alright, that’s enough. There’s no reason for this kind of squabbling.”

Both girls ducked their heads and flushed at the reprimand, eyes briefly darting to where their third teammate stood with his own students. Sasuke sank further back behind his three new-found companions, determinedly not acknowledging anything that was happening.

Genma spared an instant to thank the Sage that none of his own students seemed to have caught the love-bug yet. Though given his living situation, he should probably have a talk with Naruto at some point in the near future.

Heroically resisting the instinctive cringe that came with that lovely thought, he cleared his throat and tried to get the briefing moving again. “Alright, since Ino knows what the Lilies look like and how to properly harvest clippings, she’ll take the lead in harvesting. Naruto, you’ll pair up her. Kiba, you and Sakura are in charge of the safety detail. Shino, you and Sasuke are the scouts. Everyone clear?”

The boys seemed a more than a little wary, Naruto in particular glancing warily between the stubbornly silent members of team seven. After a moment Shino spoke up, practiced stoicism gathered around him determinedly. “Of course, sensei.” Izumi broke in, cheerfulness just a tad sharper around the edges as she narrowed her eyes at her students. “Excellent! Sakura, Ino, Sasuke, make sure you play nicely with the other minions!”

The taijutsu mistress waited just long enough for her genin to murmur their assent before stepping into a flashy shunshin. Genma sighed at the whirl of leaves left in her wake, nodding to the six youngsters. “You won’t see us, but Izumi and I will be around if you get into real trouble. Good luck.”

 

* * *

 

Naruto cleared his throat uncertainly, watching in some confusion as Ino picked her way delicately along the tree branch. “Um…are you okay?” The purple-clad kunoichi didn’t look up, pale eyes fixed intently on her own feet. “Of course I’m alright!”

Acutely aware of Shino and Sasuke waiting with varying degrees of patience two trees ahead, he glanced back at Kiba for help. The Inuzuka distractedly at him, apparently locked in a heated argument with Sakura. Naruto set his shoulders, bracing himself for another attempt. He’d never really talked much to the aloof clan heiress, partly because she was generally focused on schoolwork or Sasuke, but she’d never gone out of her way to torment him either…

“Well, it’s just that we’re falling a little behind?” Ino fixed him with an indignant glare, huffing indignantly. “We’re not- We’re not falling behind! I’m just taking my time.” Naruto scratched hesitantly at the back of his head, falling in beside her.

For a moment they continued in silence, which was abruptly broken by a carefully low question from his partner. “Is Sasuke-kun looking this way?” Naruto huffed and squinted ahead at the Uchiha, well-used to the antics and concerns of the ‘fanclub’.

“Nope, he’s not.” Ino released a tiny sigh of relief, and swiped a quick hand across her forehead to wipe off the thin sheen of sweat clinging to her skin. Naruto wasn't sure if it was the noon sun, or the nerves he wasn't supposed to mention that were giving her such trouble, so he decided to try distracting her. “So. How’s your new sensei?” Ino blew out an explosive sigh and threw her hands out expansively. “You saw her! I mean she’s a great kunoichi, but she’s just so…” Naruto waited, but she seemed almost speechless with indignation.

Naruto could imagine. Izumi-sensei seemed a little weird, and very hyper, and Ino… Ino was a bit like Shikamaru; she liked doing things in her own time and way, so people who knocked her off her stride like Izumi-sensei or Kiba annoyed her.

Making a conscious effort to let some of his careful cheerfulness slip, he gave her the concerned-listening face he usually only pulled out when Chouji got picked on. “Is she not a good teacher?” Ino waved a hand dismissively, frowning in concentration as she picked her way slowly around the trunk. “No, she is. I mean, she’s terrifying but I _am_ getting stronger.”

She hesitated, clearly frustrated. “She’s just so…rough! I can’t believe she and Sasuke-kun are actually from the same clan!” Naruto blinked at her, thoroughly confounded. He wasn’t used to any of the girls talking to him so openly, much less Ino who was openly acknowledged as the top Kunoichi in class.

“…well she _is_ a jounin.” Ino made an indignant noise that he might have called a yelp except…well it was Ino. Ino didn’t yelp anymore than Shino giggled. “So is Kurenai Yuuhi, and she’s as graceful as a geisha!” Naruto stared at her blankly. “Who?” Ino rolled her eyes and huffed at him. “Jounin Yuuhi? The genjutsu mistress that even the Uchiha acknowledge?”

Naruto still wasn’t entirely sure who she was talking about, but he shrugged amicably. “Well isn’t that because she uses genjutsu? Genma-sensei says you can’t judge a shinobi by their appearance because everyone plays to their strengths and sometimes that means looking harmless.” He paused thoughtfully. “Or crazy, I guess.” The other blonde side-eyed him suspiciously. “Maybe…”

Ino came to an abrupt halt as they reached the end of the branch, tension suddenly returning to the set of her shoulders as she grimly eyed the gap between them and the next tree over. Naruto, used to the pause by now, leapt cheerfully up and out across the gap to gauge the distance for her. Turning back he waved cheerfully at his temporary partner. “C’mon Ino-chan! Shino’s waiting for us, so they probably found a new patch of Lilies already! It shouldn’t be much farther.”

Ino set her jaw, stubbornly ignoring his cry as she pushed off the limb to follow him. And her foot, incautiously planted on a damp patch of lichen, slid out from under her. A surprised scream tore from her throat as she pitched forward off the branch, tumbling out into empty space. Naruto shouted, instinctively scrambling around to the underside of his own branch and bracing to push off after her.

Sakura beat him to it, throwing herself into such a fast leap that at first he only registered that Ino had been struck by a pink streak. The force of her momentum flung both girls hard against the trunk of the tree Naruto was already perched in, but both were two frazzled to properly catch hold of it with their chakra.

They hit the trunk, stuck for an instant, slipped and _slid off-_

In the instant before the kunoichi tumbled back into free fall, four pairs of hands caught hold of them. Naruto blinked around, mind a blank buzz of _dangerfallingMOVE_ , and hands wound so tightly in the back of Sakura’s red dress that his knuckles had gone white.

They’d somehow managed to tangle themselves up in a living web of limbs and chakra in an attempt to keep everyone from falling. Naruto himself was spread-eagled head down along the trunk with hands wound too-tight in fluttering hem of Sakura’s red dress. Kiba was clinging to the underside of the nearest branch, frozen in mid-lunge with one arm holding Akamaru tight to his chest and the other out-flung to pin one of Sakura’s ankles to the trunk.

Sasuke must have pulled some truly unadvisable tricks to get within arms-reach in time to do anything, and had gripped the pink-haired kunoichi’s knees in a bear hug with his entire body bent painfully back from the tree trunk as if he’d tried to catch her as she fell past. Sakura was dangling upside down, suspended in the air by nothing but her fellow genin’s grips, but she hung on gamely to her teammate, both arms wound tightly around Ino’s waist.

For several frozen heartbeats they hung there, hearts in their throats and chests heaving with startled fright. Then Shino slid swiftly along the trunk until he was at eye-level with the two girls, voice and expression as soothingly even as ever. “Please remain calm Yamanaka-san, Haruno-san. I will help you down now.”

Naruto sighed in relief as his teammate began the painstaking task of moving the two girls close enough to the trunk that they could safely regain their footing without knocking off any of the other three boys. Somewhere above him, Kiba choked out a strangled warning. "Careful, Shino! I swear, if you knock us off!" 

Shino kept his eyes on the girls, but addressed the Inuzuka calmly. "I am unlikely to do such a thing, Kiba. However, you should lower Chakra output Naruto. It is currently quite high." The blond froze, and then almost frantically tamped his output back down to a reasonable level, suddenly reminded of exactly why it had taken him so much longer than his teammates to master tree walking. "Ah, sorry Shino!" 

The Aburame hummed under his breath, a cloud of kikaichu bleeding from his sleeves and moving to help him pull the girls gently in toward the tree. "Do not be concerned, Naruto. As you are still holding onto the tree properly, you clearly do not use too much extra." Feeling a little wobbly now that the immediate danger was over, Naruto made a vague noise of agreement and dropped his forehead against the trunk, hands still twisted tight in Sakura's dress. 

Several minutes of careful cooperation later the six of them perched along one of the widest branches, catching their breath and staring blankly at each other. Sakura in particular was glaring mutinously at the drop to the forest floor and hissing furiously under her breath. “ _Flower-picking_ she said!” Naruto shrugged a shoulder half-heartedly and turned to Shino. “So…lunch?”

 

* * *

  

Sasuke slumped onto a stool between Kiba and Naruto with a quietly exhausted sigh. The Inuzuka jumped and stared at him, incredulous indignation writ large across his face. Sasuke blinked back in confusion, and feral eyes flitted pointedly towards the Aburame heir, who was settling calmly on the stool beside Naruto. Sasuke pasted on his most disinterested scowl, and deliberately settled more firmly onto the stool. This was the first chance he’d had in _weeks_ to be around other genin who weren’t constantly embarrassing him, and he intended to enjoy the reprieve.

The middle-aged civilian behind the counter grinned down at them. “Naruto-kun! Brought some friends today?” The loud blond beamed back at the man, his clan markings turning the expression oddly vulpine. “Yeah! We’re working with team seven today, but we decided to stop for lunch!” Sasuke eyed the blond sourly, more than a little annoyed at how much energy he still had after the mornings adrenaline packed misadventure.

The chef leaned against the counter, grin softening to a more sombre smile as he turned to the rest of them. “Glad to meet you all. Been a while since team seven was in rotation.” Sasuke frowned at the man in confusion. It seemed like an odd thing to say, but before he could ask what the man meant he’d already moved on. “So? What d’ya want?”

Naruto all but bounced on his stool, raising an eager hand. “One extra-large Kotteri Tonkatsu ramen with extra eggs and chashu, please!” Akamaru yipped, and Kiba brightened visibly. “Same!” The chef chuckled indulgently, jotting something down on his pad. “Sure thing, boys. Anyone else?”

Sasuke shifted, squinting at the various menu options nailed up on the back wall. He didn’t eat noodle dishes often, mostly because Inabi-ji always somehow managed to overcook them, but he remembered preferring the lighter style of broth.  “…just an asari miso, please.”

The Aburame heir added his own request for a medium shoyu after gravely considering several enthusiastic suggestions from Naruto, and the chef turned cheerfully to the last members of their group. “And how about you ladies?”

Both dishevelled girls were eyeing the worn wooden plaques with trepidation. Sakura cleared her throat. “Do you…I mean how many calories are in-?” Greying eyebrows bounced so high they nearly disappeared beneath the cloth tied neatly over his head, and Sasuke resisted the urge to hide his face against the counter. The second-hand embarrassment of being on a team with these two was going to kill him long before he made chuunin. 

Thankfully the man didn’t seem insulted though. Instead he settled back on his heels, eyeing the girls thoughtfully. “Well I know my Ayame keeps track of that kind of thing, but I don’t think you two really need to worry about it. You’re kunoichi after all. Two of you probably burn through more energy in an hour than I do all day.” The girls still looked dubious, but gamely ordered a small miso each with only a few sideways glances at Sasuke.

Deliberately abandoning the Inuzuka to the attentions of his bewildering teammates, Sasuke fixed his attention firmly on Naruto and Shino, groping uncertainly for a reasonably polite conversation starter. “Do the three of you come here often?” Shino looked back at him, and Sasuke firmly told himself not to shiver.

The unwavering blankness of the Aburame clan always brought up bad memories for him, but Uchiha were trusted to keep the peace in Konoha for a reason. He wouldn’t allow his mind to be bogged down by bias. “No, this is our first time to visit this shop together. Why? Because Kiba generally prefers meat dishes. However, I believe the owner feels somewhat more familiar with team five due to Naruto’s past patronage.”

The Uzumaki nodded so enthusiastically that Sasuke was momentarily afraid he might give himself whiplash. “Yeah, I’ve been coming to Ichiraku since _forever!_ Teuchi-ji-chan and Ayame-nee-chan are awesome!” Sasuke blinked uncertainly and decided to bypass his former classmates tendency towards enthusiastic rants by bypassing the subject altogether. “So you don’t eat together often?”

Naruto almost instantly shook his head. “Oh no, we eat together all the time!” Blue eyes flicked almost imperceptibly towards Shino, who dipped his head in bland acknowledgement. The blond brightened slightly at the gesture and turned his grin back on Sasuke, warm and clueless as ever. “I mean, usually it’s just having a bento or something between training and D-ranks, but we’ve gotten dinner or breakfast together a couple of times.”

The Inuzuka piped up from his other side, still looking vaguely miffed that Sasuke had taken a seat between him and his teammates. “Yeah, of course we do. What, did you think we all sat around at home in our off-duty hours?”

Sasuke’s face tightened in a subtle scowl, but Sakura spoke up before he could say anything back. “I suppose that makes sense. Group cohesion at the squad level is probably natural given how much time we spend together. But…” Her expression turned thoughtful. “I wonder if that’s why we’re assigned d-rank missions that require two teams? They wouldn’t want squads to become dependent on each other to the extent of being uncomfortable working with other teams…”

Ino nodded sagely, apparently willing to temporarily put aside her rivalry with Sakura in the aftermath of their morning mishap. “That’s right. Konoha’s greatest advantage over the other villages is our teamwork, but it needs to be carefully cultivated in new genin. If you don’t ensure that all Konoha shinobi view themselves as part of the ‘team’ of the village rather than isolating, squads can’t work together efficiently in the field.”

Sasuke stared in surprise. He’d never heard either of his teammates ever say anything so…intelligent. Usually it was all compliments and sweet talk and daydreaming interspersed with occasional bouts of cattiness towards each other. “…really?” Ino flushed slightly under his attention, but though her expression shifted back towards a flirtatious smile her newfound insight was apparently unaffected.

“Yes! Village morale and views aren’t actually something you can control, people are too complicated for that, but they can be influenced by what you teach in the academy, or genin teams, or…wherever the civilians go to school.”

Leaning forward in excitement she lifted a finger. “Do you remember Mizuki-sensei, who turned out to be a spy? That’s why we had all those evaluations afterward, with all those people coming in to ask us questions! A spy who manages to get assigned a teaching post is in prime position to sabotage the next generation of a villages shinobi in really subtle ways! Things that won’t be caught until it’s too late.”

Sasuke nodded, remembering all the oversights that had turned up during those evaluations. Neglected chapters of village history or tactics, slightly off taijutsu stances and sloppy handsigns…any number of small things that they’d had to go back and painstakingly correct. It was fairly common knowledge that if Iruka-sensei were any less skilled a teacher they probably would have graduated with a frighteningly loose grasp of Academy Fundementals.

The serious mood broke as a brightly smiling young woman began handing out steaming bowls of savoury noodles. Sasuke picked up his chopsticks, quietly tuning out the cheerful banter of his lunchmates as he reconsidered his initial impression of his teammates. He still wished he’d been assigned to an all-male team, like team five, but…maybe Ino and Sakura had some potential.

Of course barely five minutes later Ino had devolved into a heated argument with Kiba over the ‘proper’ way to address kunoichi, Sakura was squinting suspiciously at the contents of her bowl, and Naruto was all but deafening him as he chattered away to Shino but…

Well. Maybe this kind thing wasn’t so bad every once in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I'm really not sure about this chapter but...it's been a while? And you know, it's Christmas season so I'd like to update as often as possible! 
> 
> Few quick things!
> 
> 1) Izumi and Genma were around for the entire mission, so if nobody else had managed to catch Ino she still would have been okay. Even if she had fallen, Shinobi take pretty serious body slams all the time and only ever break a few bones so she wasn't in serious danger. I mean, it's a D-rank sooo....
> 
> 2) Awkward Sasuke is awkward. I mean, he never struck me as being particularly emotionally perceptive in canon, so even though he's not as isolated here his perceptions are not necessarily accurate. 
> 
> 3) I'm not going to show every single aspect of training, mostly because...well d-ranks are boring. Important for young shinobi, but not for readers!


End file.
